Hyatt Place staffers help clean up downtown
Hyatt Place East End & Resort employees were on hand Monday to pick up litter in downtown Riverhead for the Main Street hotel’s first “Main Street Clean-Up Day.”
“’Hospitality at its best’ is the hotel’s mission statement,” said Rachel Dakin, a corporate sales manager. “We wanted to apply it to Main Street, where we’re located.”
A team of 14 staffers put on gloves and broke up into smaller groups that fanned out across downtown, picking up trash including cigarette butts, broken umbrellas, empty soda bottles and even dirty diapers.
“You name it, it’s there,” said JoAnn Ciccarello, Hyatt Place’s executive director of housekeeping. “I think it’s great that we’re out here cleaning up because it’s a mess.”
Cleanup efforts were organized by the hotel’s “continuous improvement team,” which general manager Steven Shauger said meets every other week to increase guest and associate satisfaction.
“With the Hyatt being part of downtown, we wanted to keep our focus local,” Mr. Shauger said.
Katerina Shevtsova, assistant general manager, believes cleaning up downtown Riverhead is one way to entice new businesses to set up shop in the area, which has been undergoing revitalization for the past few years.
“Our guests ask [about] boutiques and if they can do anything within walking distance,” Ms. Shevtsova said. “We’re hoping more and more stores will be coming into town.”
